Front Office Sports: There is 'momentum' towards a sale of the Minnesota Twins, could be just weeks away

[Matthew Taylor]

After a dramatic trade deadline selloff, whispers are growing louder that ownership might be nearing a deal, though nothing is confirmed.

Minnesota Twins fans were still reeling from a flurry of deadline trades, 11 players moved in a week, including eight on deadline day, when a new report from Front Office Sports added fuel to an already simmering rumor: the Pohlads could be closing in on a sale of the team.

 

According to FOS, a source claimed a transaction “could be weeks away.” Nothing is official, and no parties have publicly confirmed talks, but the timing has certainly raised eyebrows.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred stirred the pot during All-Star week, telling reporters: “I know some things that you don’t know… There will be a transaction. We just need to be patient while they rework.”

Earlier efforts to sell the team reportedly stalled Justin Ishbia backed out and redirected their focus to the White Sox. But since then, several unnamed suitors have reportedly toured Target Field and met with the Pohlad family as recently as May.

Whether this is smoke or fire remains to be seen, but for now the front office’s moves and the whispers behind the scenes have fans watching closely.

View full rumor

[FlyingFinn]

As long as it wasn't the new owners telling the Pohlads to downsize payroll (so they don't look bad), I'm ready for new owners, management and manager.

[Irishman]

Be careful what you wish.   New owner(s) could be worse than Jim Pohlad.  Hopefully the new owner(s) would be much better 

[tony&rodney]

Very doubtful.

[The_No_Lifer]

Good chance that there is a tentative agreement in place, and the buyers are just working on financing.

I doubt that anyone who buys the team would spend less than the current owners, and highly likely would be more.  Teams are worth more as billionaire trophy assets rather than profit-making businesses--which is why the Pohlads are selling.

[Ghost of Kirby Puckett]

On 8/2/2025 at 12:31 PM, Irishman said:

Be careful what you wish.   New owner(s) could be worse than Jim Pohlad.  Hopefully the new owner(s) would be much better 

That's a pretty hard argument to make, considering the Pohlads might be one of, if not the worst owners of a baseball team, ever. And besides, we already know what we get with that family. At least there is a possibility of normalcy with new owners. You shouldn't own a team if you're gonna run it like it's a gas station.

[yeahyabetcha]

10 minutes ago, The_No_Lifer said:

Good chance that there is a tentative agreement in place, and the buyers are just working on financing.

I doubt that anyone who buys the team would spend less than the current owners, and highly likely would be more.  Teams are worth more as billionaire trophy assets rather than profit-making businesses--which is why the Pohlads are selling.

The Twins had a higher payroll than alot of other teams.

[Brandon27]

If former timberwolves owner glenn taylor buys the twins I am done watching the twins 

[LastOnePicked]

42 minutes ago, yeahyabetcha said:

The Twins had a higher payroll than alot of other teams.

In the aggregate, no. In fact, their spending is back to mid-90's Metrodome-era, relative to the league. They made a couple of splashes for a few years (which had been promised as a part of being gifted Target Field), and were never even in the top five spenders in the AL. Not once.

They should have done more with what they had when they spent, yes. But I'm not going to applaud a legacy of below league-average spending.

[Doctor Gast]

If the Pohlads were smart enough to walk away from Falvey, I wouldn't mind if the Pohlads stayed. But they can't; instead, they promoted him. Carl didn't know how to run a ball club, but he was able to find someone who knew what he was doing, Andy MacPhail. And won 2 World Series. Joe doesn't have that knack & is easily duped.

If Falvey can dupe the next owner(s), we are in deep trouble. Falvey shouldn't be in charge of a rebuild. The Falvey start is horrendous. Why keep him around to further put MN in the hole they can't get out of?

[TheLeviathan]

[Rod Carews Birthday]

On 8/2/2025 at 12:39 PM, Ghost of Kirby Puckett said:

That's a pretty hard argument to make, considering the Pohlads might be one of, if not the worst owners of a baseball team, ever. And besides, we already know what we get with that family. At least their is a possibility of normalcy with new owners. You shouldn't own a team if you're gonna run it like it's a gas station.

So you’re not old enough to remember Calvin Griffith, eh?

[LewFordLives]

Who or what is "Front Office Sports"? Never heard of them.

[Major League Ready]

9 hours ago, FlyingFinn said:

As long as it wasn't the new owners telling the Pohlads to downsize payroll (so they don't look bad), I'm ready for new owners, management and manager.

If this rumor that the sale is imminent, there is no way this sell-off happens without the consent of the new buyer.  What's the total savings? It's under $30M this year.  The Pohlad's get virtually none of the cost savings benefit if the team is sold before the start of next season.  You think they would risk alienating the new buyer for $30M?  Not a chance.  If the rumors are true, the new buyer endorsed this sell-off.  

There are two possibilities.  One, they are purely profit motivated.  Two, like most of us here, they looked at the current roster as needing several upgrades.  They looked at selling out the future to take a shot with this roster and decided the better chance at success, especially sustained success was to rebuild.

[The Great Hambino]

54 minutes ago, Major League Ready said:

If this rumor that the sale is imminent, there is no way this sell-off happens without the consent of the new buyer.  What's the total savings? It's under $30M this year.  The Pohlad's get virtually none of the cost savings benefit if the team is sold before the start of next season.  You think they would risk alienating the new buyer for $30M?  Not a chance.  If the rumors are true, the new buyer endorsed this sell-off.  

There are two possibilities.  One, they are purely profit motivated.  Two, like most of us here, they looked at the current roster as needing several upgrades.  They looked at selling out the future to take a shot with this roster and decided the better chance at success, especially sustained success was to rebuild.

Three: there is no imminent sale

[Jacksson]

2 hours ago, Major League Ready said:

If this rumor that the sale is imminent, there is no way this sell-off happens without the consent of the new buyer.  What's the total savings? It's under $30M this year.  The Pohlad's get virtually none of the cost savings benefit if the team is sold before the start of next season.  You think they would risk alienating the new buyer for $30M?  Not a chance.  If the rumors are true, the new buyer endorsed this sell-off.  

There are two possibilities.  One, they are purely profit motivated.  Two, like most of us here, they looked at the current roster as needing several upgrades.  They looked at selling out the future to take a shot with this roster and decided the better chance at success, especially sustained success was to rebuild.

New owner or not, the goal was to lower this year's and future year's payrolls by dumping the team's biggest financial drain = Carlos Correa.  By saving $30MM as a result of the PURGE, that almost covered the $33MM it cost to dump Correa this year (but don't be surprised if another one or two will soon be on the out of town bus = Larnach, Vasquez, even Ryan).  The trading of Jax, Varland, Duran, Stewart just lower payrolls over the next few years for either the current or future owners as their on field success and years of service leaves them well positioned for some nice raises over the next few years.  Remember that when a business is sold two things can be counted on as happening: Cutting Costs & Raising Prices.  Gonna take a lot of both to add up to $1.7 BILLION. Also don't expect success on the playing field because a successful team and performing players cost MONEY.  Plan on attending baseball games in St Paul !!

[Major League Ready]

7 hours ago, The Great Hambino said:

Three: there is no imminent sale

Did you miss the part where I said "If the rumors are true"?  Honest question.  Were you trying to say you have more information than the rest of us (and the MLB Commissioner) and the reports are misinformation?

[The Great Hambino]

38 minutes ago, Major League Ready said:

Did you miss the part where I said "If the rumors are true"?  Honest question.  Were you trying to say you have more information than the rest of us (and the MLB Commissioner) and the reports are misinformation?

I did honestly miss that part.

But I don't really trust much of what Manfred has to say given some assurances on the TV front that haven't yet come to fruition (specifically on the ESPN replacement piece) among other things, and I'm not putting much stock into "no, we really mean it this time!" rumors about the sale timeline.

Doesn't mean they can't turn out to be true.  But I'll believe a sale is happening when I see it. 

I also think the Pohlads are behaving exactly how they would if they thought they were going to end up being stuck with the team for a while.  Again, doesn't mean a sale can't happen.  But there's enough seeds of doubt to make me skeptical

[Fatbat]

Some things that fans may want to consider.

Correa was an absolute drag on the team. His salary/performance was brutal. 
Although selling our 3 best RP’s among other assets stung, they are replaceable in time. 
The sale is definitely going to happen and it doesn’t matter if the new owners gave consent to the fire sale or not. It’s not there team yet. My assumption is that they want to field a competitive team and rebrand the organization as one of the best in MLB. That will be a gigantic undertaking no matter where the starting point is.

Our minor league talent is now top 3 in all of MLB and has superstar studs ready to make MLB impact in ‘26/27. 
Total payroll doesn’t exactly matter much if you don’t pay $35M to a guy that is injured alot and can’t swing the he bat. Falvey is 0-2 in signing Donaldson/C4. He is 2-0 on dumping them early. Thats a wash. 
Its time to move on. Wish your favorite Twins that got traded the best of luck and wait for the next chapter in Twins lore. 
Good bye to the Pohlads and their wrong sized business acumen. 

[tony&rodney]

5 minutes ago, Fatbat said:

Our minor league talent is now top 3 in all of MLB and has superstar studs ready to make MLB impact in ‘26/27. 

FWIW, the first post deadline evaluation of organizational minor league talent put the Twins at 9th among all MLB teams and notes that all of the teams above them have much more high end talent - Fangraphs.

There are dozens of sites, some done by teenagers and some by AI, and a few may put the team above where Fangraphs puts them. 

While I am a big fan of Winokur and possibly Tait at A+, Jenkins and K. Culpepper at AA, and Keaschall at AAA, it must be noted that the Twins are still not benching good prospects because of any surplus at any level.

[Hrbowski]

37 minutes ago, Fatbat said:

Correa was an absolute drag on the team. His salary/performance was brutal. 

Last year was an incredible season for him, and over the course of a full season he would have been up there with Bobby Witt Jr. I think you need to reconsider your statement. He had two of his best seasons ever with the Twins, changed the clubhouse culture for the better, and was a great mentor to the young players. He had two down seasons where he was plagued by injury, yet Twins fans who love misery will only remember that.

[Fatbat]

2 minutes ago, Hrbowski said:

Last year was an incredible season for him, and over the course of a full season he would have been up there with Bobby Witt Jr. I think you need to reconsider your statement. He had two of his best seasons ever with the Twins, changed the clubhouse culture for the better, and was a great mentor to the young players. He had two down seasons where he was plagued by injury, yet Twins fans who love misery will only remember that.

Yes, he did some nice things as a Twin. Most notably in their playoff run but I stand by my statement. Its nice to see him in an Astros uniform again. 
Not spending $35M/season for the next 3 years on him can help the team more than he could. 

[TNtwins85]

19 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

If the Pohlads were smart enough to walk away from Falvey, I wouldn't mind if the Pohlads stayed. But they can't; instead, they promoted him. Carl didn't know how to run a ball club, but he was able to find someone who knew what he was doing, Andy MacPhail. And won 2 World Series. Joe doesn't have that knack & is easily duped.

If Falvey can dupe the next owner(s), we are in deep trouble. Falvey shouldn't be in charge of a rebuild. The Falvey start is horrendous. Why keep him around to further put MN in the hole they can't get out of?

I think it’s the other way around. The owners clearly duped Falvey. Constantly hamstringing him on every front concerning money. Not letting him add after ‘23 and dropping payroll coming off a playoff run. That offseason pointed right at ownership. They clearly offered him St. Peter’s job as successor when he was probably getting calls from other teams. Why else would he stay in Minnesota when they were subtracting as they should have been adding? They duped him to stay. If anything he’s culpable for going along with the plan of “rightsizing” but ownership was not duped by him. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

15 hours ago, LewFordLives said:

Who or what is "Front Office Sports"? Never heard of them.

Neither had I, but some people in the slack channel said they're a solid source.

[Jeff K]

19 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

If the Pohlads were smart enough to walk away from Falvey, I wouldn't mind if the Pohlads stayed. But they can't; instead, they promoted him. Carl didn't know how to run a ball club, but he was able to find someone who knew what he was doing, Andy MacPhail. And won 2 World Series. Joe doesn't have that knack & is easily duped.

If Falvey can dupe the next owner(s), we are in deep trouble. Falvey shouldn't be in charge of a rebuild. The Falvey start is horrendous. Why keep him around to further put MN in the hole they can't get out of?

It would be pretty surprising if Falvey keeps his job.  I hope this is not wishful thinking; however, the current state of the Twins is, for better or worse, 100% on Falvey.  He built the team that failed.  It's hard to imagine someone smart enough to be a billionaire would keep someone who failed so spectacularly.  I'm probably not smart enough...and definitely not cut throat enough to be a billionaire!

[S Bart]

18 hours ago, Rod Carews Birthday said:

So you’re not old enough to remember Calvin Griffith, eh?

18 hours ago, Whitey333 said:

Would someone tell Audra Martin to shut up once in a while?  Sick of listening to her bs and talking over the action on the field.  Does she think people turn on the game to listen to her babble?  It's also sickening how she and the announcers suck up to Buxton and Baldelli and Correa.  Correa was a bust in minnesota.  Why

Cal brought us the Metrodome!

[twinstalker]

I sometimes think reports just get recycled from other sources we've already finished with.  I also think ownership or a front office easily and often plants things like this.  It's probably the Pohlads leaking info or false info they think could help their reputation a bit.

[S Bart]

The Twins TV streaming service and season ticket sales could be/will be reduced next year. That is a guarantee. 

[twinstalker]

Just now, S Bart said:

Cal brought us the Metrodome!

Well, he didn't.  Calvin was coerced into moving into the Metrodome. 

[S Bart]

7 minutes ago, Jeff K said:

It would be pretty surprising if Falvey keeps his job.  I hope this is not wishful thinking; however, the current state of the Twins is, for better or worse, 100% on Falvey.  He built the team that failed.  It's hard to imagine someone smart enough to be a billionaire would keep someone who failed so spectacularly.  I'm probably not smart enough...and definitely not cut throat enough to be a billionaire!

...or care enough about others.